This spacecraft is about to go where no other has gone before in the deepest regions of Saturn’s rings. There is a gap between Saturn and its inner-most ring. That’s where NASA’s Cassini spacecreaft is headed on Wed. NASA has wanted to explore this region for decades. It had three chances with pioneer 11 and Voyager probes. Each time, it opted out due to safety concerns. Now this time, Cassini will race through the gap at 76,000 mph. That’s almost 17x faster than the fastest jet in history. At these speeds, NASA’s biggest concern is ice and dust. Even the tiniest collision could destroy Cassini’s instruments. Since NASA is unfamiliar with this area of space the risk of damage is ‘higher than we normally accept’ said by Earl Maize, Cassini project Manager. For protection, the spacecraft will move into a “ram” position. This means it will point its antenna in the direction of travel. Cassini won’t just be passing this gap once. Over the next few months, it will cross 22 times.
It may be a question that, Why NASA taking a risk?
Because this $3.26 billion spacecraft is in its final days of life. It will fly into Saturn’s atmosphere in September 2017. There, it will go down in a final blaze of glory. A fitting end to Cassini’s historic 13 year run in space.
Sakib Jubab